Anywhere Deals With Here
Dec. 8 — SCI FI Wire published a piece I wrote about Jerry Oltion’s novel, Anywhere But Here, which recently won the Endeavour Award.
Camera Obscura: The Lost Room
Intergalactic Medicine Show just published my review of the upcoming SCI FI Channel miniseries, The Lost Room, which airs Dec. 11, 12, and 13.
[Excerpt:] The key to room 10 of the Sunshine Motel is highly unusual for a couple of reasons. One, there is no room 10. Two, it seems to fit into any standard doorknob with a tumbler lock. And three, when you use the key to open the door, it takes you into a motel room–room 10 of the Sunshine Motel, which doesn’t exist. The motel room is pretty strange, too; for quite a lot of reasons actually, but what you first learn about it is that when you leave the room, it takes you wherever you want go.
Watch the show. It’s pretty good. Let me know what you think!
Demons Goes Darker
Dec. 7 — SCI FI Wire just published a piece I wrote about Kim Harrison’s forthcoming novel For a Few Demons More.
Why did you buy that book?
David Louis Edelman asks: “Why did you buy that book?”
I want to hear from science fiction and fantasy readers and consumers. Pick three recent SF/F titles that you’ve purchased, and add a comment telling the world how you heard about them, and what inspired you to buy them. “It was sitting on the bookshelf at Borders next to Robert Heinlein and I liked the cover” counts, as does “one of my friends told me about it” or “Amazon told me that I would like it because I recently purchased Paddy Chayefsky’s Altered States.” Extra points for the out-of-the-ordinary. You can tell me how you found/purchased Infoquake if you’d like, but it’s not necessary; any SF title will do.
Please make your comments over there so the conversation will all be in one place.
:
IT IS CONFUSING THINKS SLUSHGOD
A couple weeks ago, as I was driving home from work, I noticed, by the entrance to the Pulaski Skyway, this odd message written in giant neon letters across the face of what appears to be an abandoned factory. It said:
I pondered this for a while, trying to puzzle out its meaning. I scribbled it down, asked Gordon about it, who couldn’t make sense of it either. Eventually, I remembered to google it. Turns out, the phrase wraps around the building (which kind of makes it impossible to read the whole thing from any angle, I think), so I wasn’t seeing the whole thing. The entire phrase is:
Which doesn’t really make sense to me either. Apparently, this is a piece of conceptual art by Mary Ellen Carroll called “Indestructable Language.” I read her explanation of it here, but I still don’t understand the phrase or what this is supposed to accomplish, unless its goal is to perplex commuters and possibly cause accidents.
F&SF Nov. 2006 Acquisitions
This month, we bought the following:
“Cold Comfort” by Ray Vukcevich
“Lázaro y Antonio” by Marta Randall
“Thrilling Wonder Tales” by Albert E. Cowdrey
“With Full Power” by Albert E. Cowdrey
“At These Prices” by Esther M. Friesner
“If Angels Fight” by Richard Bowes
“Urdumheim” by Michael Swanwick
“The Mole Cure” by Nancy Farmer
“The Star to Every Wandering Barque” by James Stoddard
“Fragrant Goddess” by Paul Park
“Sweet Trap” (reprint) by Matthew Hughes
Shimmer Pirate Issue Questions
In a comment to the post in which I proclaimed the Shimmer Pirate Issue open to submissions, Danny Adams wrote:
This is a hypothetical question for me, but others might be wondering:
If you turned down a pirate story for F&SF, is it still all hands hoay for Shimmer?
That’s a good question, and here’s the answer: If I turned down a pirate story submitted to F&SF, I’d say don’t bother submitting it to Shimmer*. If Gordon, on the other hand, rejected your pirate story, by all means do send it to me. After all, if Gordon rejected it, there’s a good chance** I saw it first and passed it up to him, and so theoretically that means I would have liked it.
If anyone else has any other questions, please feel free to use this as an open thread to fire away.
——————————————————————
*Unless, of course, it’s been so drastically revised and improved that you feel it’s substantially changed as a story.
**I say a “good chance” because there are, of course, submissions Gordon looks at automatically (i.e., they don’t pass through the slush), so of course any stories like that are welcome too.
Idiot Review
New ‘Master Class’ in Science Fiction and Fantasy
I just learned about this new workshop via Toby Buckell’s blog. I thought it might interest some of my readers, so I’m spreading the word:
Taos Toolbox Writers Workshop presents
a two-week Master Class in Science Fiction and Fantasy
July 8-21, 2007
taught by
Connie Willis
Walter Jon Williams
and special lecturer
George R.R. MartinTaos Toolbox will be a “graduate” workshop designed to bring your science fiction and fantasy writing to the next level. If you’ve sold a few stories and then stalled out, or if you’ve been to Clarion or Odyssey and want to re-connect with the workshop community, this is the workshop for you!
This is not a workshop for beginners. We won’t teach you correct manuscript format or what an adverb is and why you shouldn’t use one, because we’ll assume that you already know. We want to concentrate on giving talented, burgeoning writers the information necessary to become professionals within the science fiction and fantasy field.
Though short fiction will be enthusiastically received, there will be an emphasis at Taos Toolbox on the craft of the novel, with attention given to such vital topics as plotting, pacing, and selling full-length works.
Students will have deluxe individual rooms in a lodge in Taos Ski Valley, NM, where they can work on their craft amid the beautiful mountain scenery that inspired such diverse creative figures as DH Lawrence, Carl Jung, and Georgia O’Keefe. Almost all meals will be included in the cost of tuition.
Applications will be considered beginning December 1.
Mark the date on your calendar!Contact
wjw@taostoolbox.com
Poll Services
Does anyone know if there’s any kind of poll service that lets you create a poll with over 100 options? Since Gordon was asking on the F&SF message board, I was going to create a F&SF 2006 Favorite Story of the Year poll, but all of the poll services I checked seem to have a limit of 20 or so possible responses.